5 Best Exercise Swaps To Make Today (your problems solved)

“Hey Craig, I can’t do __insert exercise here___!” That’s the most common complaint about my Monday free workout emails. I understand. Sometimes it’s a missing piece of equipment, other times one of my weird exercises causes confusion. Today you’re getting an EPIC exercise substitution list to eliminate all the obstacles to your fat burning success.

You’re going to LOVE this Master List of Bodyweight Substitutions. Now you can get in shape fast anywhere at any time without excuses OR bulking up.

1) Leg Exercises

Instead of using heavy dumbbell or barbell squats, you can do:

– Bodyweight Squats (wide stance and narrow stance) and Total Body Extensions
– Split Squats and Bulgarian Split Squats (stand near a wall to use for balance)
– Reverse Lunges, Diagonal Lunges, or Forward Lunges (make sure to hold your arms up in the “Prisoner” position to work your upper back, too).

Here’s another trick – if you want to make sure you don’t bulk up, you can cut back on how many sets you do. For example, if a program calls for 3 sets, only do 1-2. That way you’ll still get lean, sexy legs, but without the bulk.

Never fear, Bally the Exercise Dog is here to help you out. Here are a few of his favorite exercises for giving you stronger legs without pain. Try these substitutions for Squats and Lunges:

– Low and High-box Step-ups (leave the working leg on the step at all times)
– Lying Hip Extensions and 1-Leg Hip Extensions and even 1-Leg Hip Extensions with your feet at an elevated position (like on a stool or stability ball)
– Stability Ball Leg Curls (essential for hamstring strength and reducing knee pain)

But hey Craig & Bally the Dog, how can I work my upper body without bench press or dumbbells? That’s a great question, and I recently answered this for Men’s Health magazine.

3) Bodyweight Chest Exercises

You can replace dumbbell and barbell chest presses with:

– Kneeling Pushups or Regular Pushups (but keep your hands just outside of shoulder-width and keep your elbows close to your sides at all times… this reduces stress on your rotator cuff)

First, I love a sexy back on a woman. When I see a woman at the gym doing pullups, chin-ups, or bodyweight rows, it puts a smile on my face. I’m grateful for Cross-Fit and Tough Mudder for making pullups “normal” for women everywhere.

Second, here’s the bad news. It’s almost impossible to work your upper back without equipment, such as a pullup bar, band or TRX-like piece of equipment. My favorite ‘bodyweight’ back exercises that rely on equipment are:

The only other moves you can do for your back with absolutely NO equipment are Stick-ups (good for mobility), Prisoner-style leg exercises (putting your hands in the Prisoner position for squats, for example), or IRON CROSSES.

In the Iron Cross, stand with arms out to side and thumbs up. Brace your abs, squeeze your glutes (your butt), and then squeeze the muscles between your shoulder blades while tightening the back of your shoulders. Squeeze like heck for 20-30 seconds. If you do 2-3 sets of that, it will be a really great challenge to off-set all the pushups you do. Let me know what you think!

Because bodyweight exercises give you the lean look with definition and curves in all the right places. You won’t get that from doing cardio or the sit-up machine.

Enjoy those exercise substitutions.

Taking care of you and giving you what you need,

Craig Ballantyne, CTT
Certified Turbulence Trainer

PS – Success begins and ends with…

Your success depends on clear communication. This means communicating with others, laying down the law, and setting the explicit rules that you will be following to achieve your big goals and dreams.

This also means seeking out and communicating with other positive, like-minded individuals. Get social support by clearly communicating your goals and by asking for specific help.

And then comes the hard part – clearly communicating what needs to be done… with yourself. You must be clear about your own goals in your head. You must be clear about what it will take to succeed, and you must also be clear about what you will and will NOT do for success. Those are your rules. Know them, communicate them, and stick to them.

Finally, you must have a clear understanding of the consequences of all your actions and communication. Know what to do, know to do it, and know what will happen when you do. Clear communication = a smooth path to success. Get real and get loud about the great goals you have in life.

Craig Ballantyne has been the Editor of Early to Rise since 2011. He’s an entrepreneurial coach at Perfect Life Workshops, author of The Perfect Day Formula and formerly a Strength & Conditioning coach in Toronto and contributing author to Men’s Health magazine. The Perfect Life Workshop is a one-day, immersive small group workshop...